Chapter 114-2
“I’m not shifting! I just want to talk to her!”
“Your mother’s right. It’s time for you to listen to her story.”
Clairn
My mother opened her mouth to begin to read, but there was a rapt knock at the door. I jerked upright and turned my head, but my father’s arms were around me and kept me from going anywhere. A dampness spread along my chest. I looked down. “Daddy, I spilled some milk on my
shirt.”
“Hush, baby. Listen to your mother.”
“A drowsy, dreamy influence seems to hang over the land, and to pervade the very atmosphere. Some say that the place was bewitched by a high German doctor, during the early days of the settlement; others, that an old Indian chief, the prophet or wizard of his tribe, held his powwows there before the country was discovered by Master Hendrick Hudson,” my mother read. I tried to focus, but the knock sounded again.
“Daddy,” I whispered. “Are you going to get that?”
“Get what, baby?”
“There’s someone at the door.”
“Why would you say that, cub?”
The knock sounded again. “That. Don’t you hear that?”
“Andrea,” my mother said, stopping her reading. “You are not listening.”
The knock was getting louder and more insistent. I glanced down at my shirt. It was almost completely soaked with milk now. “I think I need to change my shirt.”
Carefully removing my father’s arm, I got up and put my milk on the table.
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!
Could they really not hear that? I turned my head. “Andrea,” my mother said sharply. “Ignore that.”
“You can hear that? What if it’s Corinne? She said her mother was taking her out hunting tonight and maybe I could go with her.”
“It’s not Corinne, and you’re not going out hunting. Get back in your father’s lap.”
I picked at my wet shirt. “I need to change my shirt.”
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Chapter 114-2
“Your shirt is fine.”
My shirt did feel fine. Drier. With a shrug, I turned to climb back into my father’s lap, but there was
another knock.
Kiana! Kiana, it’s me, baby. Let me in, please!
Kiana. Was he talking to me? Nobody called me Kiana. My name was Andrea, and yet, that voice sounded so…familiar.
I turned to look at my father. His face had a strange vacant stare, and he wasn’t moving. “D-Daddy?
“Andrea, get back in your father’s lap, and he’ll be fine. He’ll be just fine. He’ll be just like this. Warm and loving.” Her voice was softer and almost pleading now. “Ignore the door.”
“W-Who’s there?” My voice shook. Why was I scared? I had no reason to be scared. We were home. I was surrounded by my wolves. We were loved and protected.
“Nightmares, Andrea. Terrible things are out there.” My mother’s eyes filled with tears. “But if you ignore them, I can keep reading this story, and everything will be fine.”
Kiana. Kiana, I’m trying to reach you, but I can’t find you. I can feel you. I know you’re close, my love. Just let me in. Listen to your wolf.
Listen to my wolf. I closed my eyes and reached for her, but she wasn’t there. How was that possible? “Daddy? Daddy, I can’t feel my wolf.”
My father didn’t answer, but my mother stood. The book fell from her lap. “Your wolf is just sleeping. There’s no reason to panic.”
“Even if my wolf sleeps, I can feel her. I can always feel her. You don’t know that because you’re not
a wolf.”
The knock sounded again, and I turned and walked toward the door.
“Andrea, no! Please. Stay with me. I can’t keep you here. I can’t keep you safe if you don’t stay!” “But you can’t keep me here anyway,” I said in a strange voice. That didn’t make sense, but I knew it. I knew it like I’d experienced it a hundred times before. “The darkness always comes.”
“This time will be different! I promise. I’m getting stronger, my dearest. Just stay with me, please.” The wetness returned, and I stared down at my shirt. It wasn’t milk. It was stained red.
Blood.
“Why is it dark outside? It should be morning.”
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Chapter 114-2
“Andrea.” My mother’s voice sounded further and further away. “Andrea, please. Don’t do this.”
Smoke billowed in from beneath the door.
Nightmares.
What kind of nightmares? I didn’t have any nightmares. I had the best parents although, sometimes, they didn’t let me have sweets after dinner. My friends were wonderful. My alpha always gave me hugs and told me what a special child I was.
The knocking turned into a frantic pounding.
Kiana! Kiana, let me in!
With trembling hands, I reached out and turned the doorknob.
A shadow fell through the door and with it, an endless darkness.
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